Captain Tsubasa (2018)

Captain Tsubasa is the passionate story of an elementary school student whose thoughts and dreams revolve almost entirely around the love of soccer. 11-year-old Tsubasa Oozora started playing football at a very young age, and while it was mostly just a recreational sport for his friends, for him, it developed into something of an obsession.

In order to pursue his dream to the best of his elementary school abilities, Tsubasa moves with his mother to Nankatsu city, which is well-known for its excellent elementary school soccer teams. But although he was easily the best in his old town, Nankatsu has a lot more competition, and he will need all of his skill and talent in order to stand out from this new crowd.

He encounters not only rivals, but also new friends like the pretty girl Sanae Nakazawa and the talented goalkeeper, Genzo Wakabayashi, who shares the same passion as Tsubasa, and will prove to be a treasured friend in helping him push towards his dreams. Representing Japan in the FIFA World Cup is Tsubasa’s ultimate dream, but it will take a lot more than talent to reach it.

Oozora, Tsubasa Main

Sanpei, Yuuko Japanese

Wakabayashi, Genzou Main

Suzumura, Kenichi Japanese

Hyuuga, Kojirou Main

Satou, Takuya Japanese

Misaki, Tarou Main

Fukuhara, Ayaka Japanese

Ishizaki, Ryou Main

Tamura, Mutsumi Japanese

Misugi, Jun Supporting

Saitou, Souma Japanese

Matsuyama, Hikaru Supporting

Hatano, Wataru Japanese

Wakashimazu, Ken Supporting

Umehara, Yuuichirou Japanese

Hongo, Roberto Supporting

Konishi, Katsuyuki Japanese

Nakazawa, Sanae Supporting

Hara, Sayuri Japanese

Kawase, Kouhei Producer

Ishiguro, Tatsuya Producer

Umetsu, Satoshi Producer

Kodama, Keita Producer

Reviews

Apr 2, 2019

EauDeBla

Recommended

I have watched every episode with much gusto, and this is the best adaptation of Captain Tsubasa, even though there were some areas that David Pro could have done differently.

Many people do comment on how the soundtrack isn't as good as the previous adaptations, and while I can agree partly, it's definitely also not the complete bore that people are making it out to be. The music in the second arc (29 to 52) greatly improves the dramatic flair. The tracks aren't as present, but on the whole, they complemented the animation pretty well. Also, every time Hyuga had the ball, they played a particular ... track that I'm in complete love with.

Other areas of contention include cutting dialogue content and a few scenes in order to fit the first 25 volumes of the manga in 52 episodes. For example, they had to cut Kanda out, the boxing dude who falls in love with Sanae. More importantly, the Boku ha Misaki Taro one shot which gave important character development to one of the main characters (Misaki) was also missing, which is a shame.

The other big issue with this series is the reuse of animation. I think I've noticed too many times where David Pro reused the animation, but I think I can forgive them for it, because those new animation pieces are frankly the best of the franchise yet. For the first time ever, the special shots look as good as they were in the manga.

Which brings me to another point. Tsubasa 2018 is the only adaptation that has been able to bring Takahashi's dynamic and intense art style into animation. Maybe Tsubasa doesn't have "fluid animation" all the time, but it gladly made up for it with a lot of really well-drawn shots. Even the stills that often match those in the manga look like there was a lot of effort put into them. You can pause the series at any point, and you will simply not find a lot of "QUALITY". It's just great to look at.

To be honest, I'm quite satisfied with this series. It doesn't have the super amazing soundtrack of the original or Road to 2002, but is it honestly that important especially when you consider the fact that Takahashi's vision (story and art) has been successfully transcribed to anime format? It's all there without the useless extra baggage of the other adaptations.

The final episode teases us for a future adaptation of the third and final arc of Captain Tsubasa which was sadly missing here. If it doesn't happen, it'll be the biggest blueball in anime history, especially after the last 2 failed remakes.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Apr 1, 2019

lt_wassile

Mixed Feelings

“I will score a goal but first let me remember my entire life”
-Tsubasa Ozora

Some of the criticism I’ve seen up to now about Captain Tsubasa is how unrealistic it is. As a person who has grown up watching and playing football, it’s obvious I’ve never seen –and will never see- some of the skills certain characters display on the show. Still, it is because of these that the show is exciting.

Based on the manga by Takahashi Yoichi, Captain Tsubasa displays the addictive story of Tsubasa’s football career while in elementary and middle school, first stone in he’s odyssey pursuing the dream of ... playing in Japan’s national team and becoming the best footballer in the world.
And it is in Nankatsu city, place which hosts some of the best elementary schools of the country, where our leading characters’ journey, Tsubasa (also known as Oliver or Majid), starts.

The pace, while not being as slow as in the original series, also takes its time, circumstance which makes possible the introduction of most of the characters, letting these show their different skills and motivations for playing "the beautiful game" and making the viewer become really attached to some of them; moreover, the scorching pace, contrary to what one might expect, doesn’t sacrifice any momentum during games, making some iconic matches as thrilling as they were on the original series. This does not imply that, as it occurred in the original series, sometimes one might actually think they are dedicating too much time to something that they do not have the need to.

At the same time, one might expect a huge improvement in terms of the paragraph artistic and sound section of the show (compared to the previous ones) and, despite its evident improvement, its quite lackluster. Repetitive character designs, poor setting/scenery development, “not-as-fluent-as-you-would-expect” animation, besides a quite unappealing OST, do nothing to help the show.
However, not everything is going to be bad at this segment, as voice acting and sound effects are quite on point, doing their job of keeping the viewer immersed in the action.

To make things simple, “CT” is a fun anime to watch even if you are not into football. The common recipe of the underdog team going for the top and exceeding expectations, the main character that surpasses himself in order to overcome the problematic situations and the thrilling games full of incredible goals, saves and spectacular skills does not disappoint.
Last, but not least, if you were introduce to the Captain Tsubasa franchise when you were a kid, you will probably enjoy it even more, as it might bring some memories from childhood back.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 23, 2018

Scorpiara

Not Recommended

Preliminary (10/52 eps)

This is my first exposure to anything Captain Tsubasa related. Honestly, I'm not impressed with this anime, but I neither find it outright terrible. I find it below-average and just "meh". This is out of 10 episodes and honestly I'm losing interest to keep watching.

Story: 4
Captain Tsubasa's story is a simple one. The story of a young prodigy who as a young child survived a potentially fatal hit-and-run by having his Soccer Ball serve as cushion. Now, I found that scene stupid in the anime with the way they presented it. It's so unrealistic and...hilarious. The story is typical based off the 10 episodes I've ... watched. Extremely talented Main Character moves to a new town to revive an untalented soccer club by giving them hope to defeat their rivals and create a rivalry between MC and Ace of Rival Club which becomes the driving force or main highlight of the game (In the beginning of the anime). This isn't bad to have a story like this and I don't want to give that impression. It's just the way it's done isn't exactly interesting or new. I don't think it's bad, but it's not great nor good and it falls into the realm of "Meh" for me. The story does change directions after a certain period and if you watch the opening you could easily predict it was always going to change. I do like the scenes where the characters develop their skills despite it being in a form of a montage and the anime gave me a sense of time and showed improvement to atleast give me the sense they did improve as players. I found the games to be underwhelming due to the fact they skim over a portion of them which takes the intensity away for me. If a player scores a goal they then just skip a good or an amount that you thought was going to be full of action. I don't understand why this anime hypes up, give it this build up, make some moments feel intense, but then skip a good portion of it. I'm not talking all games, but just ones that are important.
I think some moments are fine like the setup of the rivalry between our MC and the Rival in the beginning. I also think the setup to build up our rival legitimized him. I think they prevented the rivalry from being one-sided and the reasoning for the match was typical for a show like this.

Story is just typical, but the execution lowers its quality of it being better than what we got here.


Art: 3
The art...is uninspiring. I never noticed anything that caught my eye during the anime when it came to its art. Again, I don't mind that, but at the same time the worst aspect was the characters faces. I felt like sometimes most characters have the same faces. At one point, I mistook a character for the Main Character due to how similar their faces were. I thought this character was the Main Character due to the fact our Main Character just moved, so I thought it was a flashback, but I didn't realize I was watching a character introduction until I saw things that would contradict facts about the MC. I don't know if this is from the manga and the studio is trying accurately portray the faces of the characters, but in the anime...they change certain things to make them differentiate, so we can recognize them. Extras in the show have the same face design. MC's mother and another character's mother LOOKED ALIKE! I tell you man I was thinking, "She looks just like the MC's mother".
Nothing about the setting, the town, the scenery stands out. It's typical and I don't think stuff like this is a huge detriment to the enjoyment, but it doesn't elevate the show. This is just a viewer's perspective. I am not an expert.

Art is ok except for the repetitive character designs and seemingly stupid looking faces that makes you think they were dropped on their head.


Sound: 4
Sound is decent overall, but music is generic. You get this...what do you call it? Positive? Uh, typical soundtrack? My apologies for my inability to describe the music. Some sound effects I've heard from JoJo Bizarre Adventures, which is to be expected from the same studio that produced the show. I don't take issue with the sound effects as they do their job to keep me immersed in the action.

Sound is decent, but music is generic.

Character: 4
The characters in this show...are one-note...one dimensional...and generic? or....kinda blend in with each other than have something that differentiates themselves? The one trait that defines these characters is what stands out the most aside from their character designs. Also, some of these characters are idiots. One is how do you LEAVE A GOD DAMN BABY UNCHECKED WITH A SOCCER BALL!? Two, WHY DO YOU ALLOW A MAN WHO WAS A DRUNKARD TO LIVE WITH YOUR WIFE AND YOUR SON!? Three, YOUR WIFE AND THE MAN ARE DEFINITELY BANGING WHEN YOUR SON IS ASLEEP! A character I just saw in the 10th episode is laughable. They try to have me respect this character despite him being a dick. The reason for the guy to be a dick isn't connected to his personal life in anyway. This is like Bakugou without the nuances involved to give context to his attitude. He's a dick just because he's a dick.
One character is literally JUST LIKE OUR MC!!!!! Other characters have no defining trait aside from their looks or how good/bad they are at soccer.
I will say one character who is the Goal Keeper's coach stands out to me. Not standout alot, but just someone I recognize who isn't a main character.

Characters....uninteresting or just typical..


Enjoyment: 5
The enjoyment of this anime is mediocre. The action scenes can atleast be engaging, but the lack of animation really hurts it. Many and many times through the show there is ZERO animation. Nothing moves and it makes you wonder if they were lazy, if they didn't have enough time or if there was a lack of budget, or maybe there was a lack of passion and enthusiasm involved...I don't know. It's just many times there is Zero Animation. Moments like MC learning a new move was nice to watch. Moments where characters improve gives a good sense of progression. However, moments where a referee (this is minor and something I don't think people will notice or pay attention to) shows up out of nowhere at a practice game despite there never being a referee there in the first place is hilarious. Matches sometimes have animation, but many times they montage it. It's annoying because you thought that this would matter as they're showing intensity, but decide to just gloss over it like it didn't hurts the enjoyment for me. Characters looking stupid hurts the enjoyment because for 20 minutes each episode visually you have to look at them look stupid.
Sometimes unfair BS like "LETS SEE HOW GOOD YOU ARE! LETS SEE IF YOU CAN BEAT ME, BUT YOU HAVE TO FACE 11 OTHER PLAYERS ALL ON YOUR OWN WHILE I PLAY GOAL KEEPER! HIT A GOAL ON ME TO PROVE YOUR WORTH WHILE THE OTHERS WHO CHALLENGED ME DIDN'T HAVE TO GO THROUGH THAT!"
Like come on, dude.
Also, another thing that hurts it is a character who obviously is playing too rough somehow a threat when everyone should be betting on how fast he'll get a red card during a game.
Training and The Matches are the most enjoyment I got from this while the matches not exactly being great. I like the characters coming together and putting in the work to get better.

Overall: 4
You can enjoy Captain Tsubasa (2018), but it's an anime that is lacking. If you want a typical show that does typical things you're familiar with then I think this is an anime you can enjoy, but if you're someone who doesn't tolerate certain things, nitpicks certain things or have simply watched better(In your opinion) then I don't think you'll have the best experiencing watching Captain Tsubasa (2018).

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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